Canon EF 75-300 is there a difference between these two?

Question

Hi I have noticed from a couple of pictures that I have seen what appears to be the same lens but where it says Image Stabilizer on one it just has the words and on the other its in a little silver plague type thing, does anyone know what the difference is???

For examples see..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-EOS-EF-AF-75-300mm-IS-USM-Ultrasonic_W0QQitemZ160408776037QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN?hash=item25591bad65

and

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-ef-70-300mm-4-5-5-6-is-usm-lens-uv-filter-hood_W0QQitemZ260561587203QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN?hash=item3caaae4c03

Answer 1

they are nearly identical... I'm not sure what the guy above me is talking about... they are very very similar lenses... there is a slight difference in range... lens #2 has 5mm extra on the wide end (nearly nothing)... and lens #1 is a bit faster at f4.0 on the wide end instead of f4.5 on lens #2... but they are both stabilized and both have the USM motors on them... one is probably just an "updated" (minor changes and a cosmetic change) version of the other... I would go with lens #1 personally... it's a bit faster and the extra 5mm on lens #2 makes no difference... #1 also looks more solidly built to me...



PS as I am not a Canon user, I cannot really comment on the image quality of those lenses, I'm simply going by the specifications/descriptions... possibly other Canon users might tell you how they stack up optically against each other...

Answer 2

Hey,



Don't buy the 75-300mm ! It's one of the optically worst lenses I have ever tried, especially at 300mm. It doesn't have USM, which is bad today.



The 70-300mm is the newest, has an Ultra Sonic Motor for fast and silent focusing, IS up to 3 stops (1/30 instead of 1/250 in low light, for example) and is much better.



Edit:The 75-300 says it has aperture f/4 - it's not true, it's f/4 at 70mm and f/5.6 at 300mm; both have it like this.

Answer 3

The 70-300mm series from Canon is the superior series. While it follows a similar optical design to 75-300mm lenses, the 70-300 series have UD elements normally reserved for Canon's L-series, this helps control chromatic abberations which telephoto lenses are rather prone to suffering from.



Both lenses otherwise perform similarly, being reasonably sharp between 70-200mm and needing to be stopped down to get sharpness past 200mm.

Answer 4

i second the concerns about Canons 75-300 lenses. Fine on film, okay up until around 200mm then practically unusable on a DSLR.



The 70-300 is a much more recent lens with IS and has optical quality far above its price would suggest. I would expect there to be a significant price difference between the two.

Answer 5

They have different focal-length ranges. One is 75-300 the other is 70-300. They are completely different models.